Badly-timed respiratory illness takes out Adam Yates on crucial GC day - "That's how it is now"

Adam Yates had until today ridden a consistent and strong Tour de France, sitting in sixth position at the start of stage 17, where the Briton fell down into ninth place after going through serious difficulties.

"I'm sick. Today it got to me, so I tried to help Geraint Thomas. A number of riders within the team had the same problems at the start of the Tour, Daniel Felipe Mártinez and Jonathan Castroviejo," he explained, giving a justification to the Colombian's lack of performance throughout the race. "We've tried everything to stay healthy, but it hasn't been my year so far. I just keep getting sick. That's how it is now.”

Having struggled at Hourquette d'Ancizan, it seemed as if Yates could fall out of the Top10 and the GC fight entirely. That happened to teammate Tom Pidcock who cracked later in the day, however Yates had the legs to survive and limit the losses enough to stay inside the Top10 by around two minutes over Enric Mas and Alexey Lutsenko.

“If you only miss 1%, you won't be among the best. I've had it for a few days now, but I'm trying to get through it," Yates said. "Another mountain stage is coming. I will try to help Geraint in that as much as possible. And hopefully I will get even better for Paris.”

Yates shed 8:59 minutes on Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, and just over five on most of his former direct rivals. He found an ally in Neilson Powless throughout the final half of the stage, being able to limit the losses and still ambition to keep his place into Paris.